Laramie girls win 4x400 state championship, boys third

May 18—CASPER — Laramie's 4x400-meter relay teams had to take the hard road to success at the Wyoming Class 4A state outdoor track and field meet Saturday at Harry Geldien Stadium.

The Plainsmen girls passed through the Class 4A East Conference meet because freshman Lainey Berryhill had started to experience foot pain. They withdrew from the race rather than risk Berryhill developing a serious injury that cost her the state meet. The Laramie boys finished fifth at the conference meet.

As a result, both teams ended up in the slower of two heats in the final event of the state meet.

It didn't matter.

The girls quartet of Berryhill and seniors Leah Schabron and Addison Forry and sophomore Libbie Roesler bested the field with a time of 3 minutes, 59.08 seconds.

The boys team of juniors Gideon Moore and William Arens, senior Logan Brown and sophomore Flynn Arnold captured third in 3:25.23.

"We knew we could win that race, but everyone else didn't expect anything out of us because of the heat we were in," Schabron said. "We were nervous about running in that slow heat, but we were still confident.

"(Forry) and I talked about being seniors and leaving it all out there in our last race. Lainey and Libbie wanted the exact same thing, so all of us left it all out there and it paid off."

The boys grabbed the lead early in their heat and steadily added to the lead before Arnold took the baton and put the race out of reach. They still had to sweat out the faster heat, but ended up about where they expected with Thunder Basin (3:19.02) and Sheridan (3:20.50) finishing first and second, respectively. Thunder Basin set an all-class state record in the process of its win.

"We knew we had to go dog one out and we did," Arnold said. "We're super thrilled with third place, especially coming out of the slow heat. Plus, Sheridan and Thunder Basin are both really tough.

"Going from fifth at regionals to third at state with the exact same team is a huge deal. We were focused and three of our guys were fresh. We just went out and competed. Our guys pulled through."

Berryhill wasn't sure what to expect from Sheridan senior Addie Pendergast or Star Valley senior Valerie Jirak because she hadn't raced against either this season. The Laramie freshman ended up third behind Pendergast's all-class record time of 54.40 seconds and Jirak's 56.60.

"I'm disappointed because I think I could have done better, but I have more years to accomplish what I want," Berryhill said. "It's not the best race I've ever had. I didn't believe in myself and didn't get out fast enough. This wasn't my best race, but it's a good learning opportunity."

Arnold also placed third in the 400 with a time of 48.09.

"I think I went out a little too slow and it bit me in the butt later," Arnold said. "I'm really happy for those other guys because they ran great races."

The Laramie girls finished eighth in the team standings with 54 points. Sheridan scored 112 points to capture its first state title since 1993.

Sheridan also won the boys team title (141 points), while Laramie placed 12th (21).

Jeremiah Johnke is the WyoSports editor. He can be reached at jjohnke@wyosports.net or 307-633-3137. Follow him on X at @jjohnke.